Wallace striped pouch marten

Wallace striped pouch marten
	" Myoictis wallacii ": Artist's impression by Joseph Wolf from the first description by Gray, 1858.
Systematics
Subclass :	Marsupials (Marsupialia)
Superordinate :	Australidelphia
Order :	Raubbeutleriformes (Dasyuromorphia)
Family :	Predator (Dasyuridae)
Genre :	Striped marten ( Myoictis )
Type :	Wallace striped pouch marten
Scientific name
	Myoictis wallacei
	Gray , 1858

Distribution area

The Wallace striped marten ( Myoictis wallacei ) is a predator from the subclass of marsupials , it lives in the Indonesian Aru Islands and the south of New Guinea from Merauke in the west to Avera (Avela) and the Aroa River in the east.

features

The animals reach a head body length of approx. 20 centimeters, a tail length of 15 to 23 centimeters and a body mass averaging about 230 grams. The fur is rust-brown with three black vertical stripes on the back, a little lighter on the head and tail. The middle stripe on the back is only pale on the head.

The Wallace striped sacred marten differs from other members of the genus in particular by its bushy, reddish hairy tail. The thenar and first interdigital pad are usually not fused together. The posterior palatal windows are large. The premolar P ₃ is provided with a double root. The females carry 6 teats in a bag.

Way of life

Little is known about the way of life of these diurnal striped martens. Natives of the Aru Islands report that the animals can be observed in the morning and in the evening, prefer to stay on the ground, feed on insects and lizards and look for shelter in piles of stones or tree hollows. Gray mentions in his first description that animals are "as destructive in buildings as rats with regard to everything edible".

Research history

The type specimen was shot in 1857 by Alfred Russel Wallace on the Aru Islands. Wallace reported in a first note on the island fauna in 1857 of "two or three small, rat-like marsupials". Wallace sent the fur and skull skeleton to the British Museum of Natural History , where the specimens can still be found today under the inventory number BM 58.2.20.1. The first scientific description based on these specimens was made in 1858 by John Edward Gray , in honor of Wallace, under the name " Myoictis wallacii ".

The first description by Gray, 1858, has two significant problems. On the one hand, the description is based on a male young animal in which not all of the species-typical characteristics were fully developed; on the other hand, the spelling “ wallacii ” for the additional species was criticized as being orthographically incorrect. In modern specialist literature, the original name " Myoictis wallacii " still appears occasionally, but the spelling Myoictis wallacei is usually preferred.

It is probably due to this fact that the Wallace striped bag marten was listed as a subspecies of the Müller striped bag marten (" Myoictis melas wallacei ") for a long time . First an extensive anatomical analysis of the genus Myoictis by Patricia Woolley and a molecular genetic investigation by Michael Westerman et al. made it clear that it is actually a species of its own.

There is little reliable information about the degree of endangerment and the IUCN lists this as low risk.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c J. E. Gray: List of Species of Mammalia sent from the Aru Islands by Mr. AR Wallace to the British Museum. In: Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London , Part XXVI, pp. 106-113, 1858. (digitized version )

^ ^A ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f P. A. Woolley: Revision of the Three-striped Dasyures, Genus Myoictis (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae), of New Guinea, With Description of a New Species. In: Records of the Australian Museum , Vol. 57, pp. 321–340, 2005 (digitized version )

^ AR Wallace: On the Natural History of the Aru Islands. In: The Annals and Magazine of Natural History , Series 2, Supplement to Vol. XX, pp. 473–485, 1857. (digitized version )

↑ M. Westerman, J. Young, St. Donnellan, PA Woolley & C. Krajewski: Molecular Relationships of New Guinean Three-Striped Dasyures, (Myoictis, Marsupialia: Dasyuridae). In: Journal of Mammalian Evolution , Vol. 13, Issue 3–4, pp. 211–222, 2006. (digitized version )

Web links

Myoictis wallacei on the 2011 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Posted by: Woolley, P., 2008. Retrieved January 11, 2012

[Gray,_1858-1] J. E. Gray: List of Species of Mammalia sent from the Aru Islands by Mr. AR Wallace to the British Museum. In: Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London , Part XXVI, pp. 106-113, 1858. (digitized version )

[Woolley,_2005-2] A ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f P. A. Woolley: Revision of the Three-striped Dasyures, Genus Myoictis (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae), of New Guinea, With Description of a New Species. In: Records of the Australian Museum , Vol. 57, pp. 321–340, 2005 (digitized version )

[Wallace,_1857-3] AR Wallace: On the Natural History of the Aru Islands. In: The Annals and Magazine of Natural History , Series 2, Supplement to Vol. XX, pp. 473–485, 1857. (digitized version )

[Westerman_et_al.,_2006-4] M. Westerman, J. Young, St. Donnellan, PA Woolley & C. Krajewski: Molecular Relationships of New Guinean Three-Striped Dasyures, (Myoictis, Marsupialia: Dasyuridae). In: Journal of Mammalian Evolution , Vol. 13, Issue 3–4, pp. 211–222, 2006. (digitized version )